Killed in a training accident? Obviously you need more professional development.

How does a “professional development day” help with a command that refuses to allow crew chiefs to down an aircraft? It’s a lovely idea, to shuffle everyone into a room, slowly kill them by PowerPoint, check the box that they’ve had their “professional development”. This way we can send them back out to work under the same policies and budgets that will hamstring them tomorrow just as they did yesterday. The only difference?

This time it will be their fault.

Remember, this is what the marine corps is.

Failure is just fine, as long as the paperwork looks good.

When two helicopters slam together in the dark, they can blame lack of “professional development”.

Never mind the fact that the Old Man wants the “bare minimum” for the airframe to get off the ground, so he doesn’t have to answer questions about why he has aircraft down for maintenance.

Never mind that the unit spent half a million dollars on paint and brasso last year, but at least that hangar looks great with the coffins in it. I’m sure it will be of great comfort to the pilot’s widow to know that at least the unit spent its budget, so they’ll probably get the same allocation next year.

The aircraft are held together with duct tape, baling wire and bubble gum. The barracks are crumbling, moldy, rat-infested sewers. These men work in deplorable conditions (unless of course they are officers, but that’s not the point here) at insane hours, but that can’t possibly be the problem.

It must be that they need “professional development”

Anything to avoid an officer being accountable for his men.

If that craziness starts happening you might actually find yourself running a military organization instead of a daycare center.

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